Gort begins

This weekend Gort was officially started !!! This project will be a little slower and I'll be taking my time on it.

Fortunately another person is building a Gort and he shared with me the research he's done on the robot. Gary is producing a very cool retro 1930's rocketeer type movie and plans to use his robot in the movie. His website is
Thirty Second Doom. The trailers and cinematography he's done on his movie is absolutely amazing.

Another builder who built a Gort is John Riggs from the robot hut. I have to say John is one of the great robot builders and he also gave me a few tips. Check out his site at http://www.robothut.robotnut.com/

This weekend was spent experimenting with different dimensions for the torso and considering different ways to fabricate a torso. Gary used a cardboard concrete form tube which is very solid. I probably will go that route but am still kicking around making my torso from scratch using wood and styrene. It has to be light to be wearable.

While considering the options, I decided to do something I've been wanting to do for awhile. That is to make an attachment for my router to cut circles. The band saw circle cutter I made last year is not practical in so many ways. The router cutter is more precise and will be a nice addition to my tools. After 3 different designs and attempts, I came up with an excellent circle cutter that is mounted to the router table. Very stable, accurate and cheap.

Later this week I'll try to track down some cardboard tube distributors. Thinking back on the bender project, making a torso out of wood and styrene wasn't that easy. Cardboard tube will more practical.

Retro robots

Now that I'm back from vacation in the Georgia Mountains, it's time to unveil my fiendish plot and the next robot to be built in my laboratory.

Very few people remember this robot. He has been in several different movies and TV and his roots are from the 1930's and 40's. Although his name is Gort, it's NOT the Gort from "The Day the earth stood still". This Gort is from the Republic series. Republic was the name of a movie company that made the old serials that usually ended in a cliffhanger ... to be continued next week. GORT was the robot of the evil Dr. Satan in the Dr. Satan series. Gort would rob banks and do the bidding of Dr. Satan whenever Dr. Satan pressed the hidden robot button on his desk.

However, the inspiration to build this robot came from one of our favorite shows - Star Trek Voyager. You see, Voyager had several episodes where the holodeck had a program called Captain Proton and the Bride of Chaotica and it was based on the 1930's serials. Dr. Chaotica was the evil villian who controlled the robots and was bent on taking over the world. In the Republic Series it was Dr. Satan who was going to rule the world with his robots. The robots in both series were almost identical. I'm leaning toward making the Star Trek Voyager version of this robot.

Land Shark

While taking my wife out to lunch one day, we stopped by a resale/antique store and found this incredible fiberglass great white shark head. It was like seeing a kitten in the window of a pet store begging you to take it home. That shark just had to come home with us. Originally we thought it might look good in our sons bait shop but that wasn't in the cards so the shark took up residence in the workshop.

The large dorsel fin and smaller tail fin was created using Sintra and a jig saw. The dorsel fin still needs a covering on the base to create the area where the fin connects to the back of the shark.

OK, I know this idea may seem a bit "odd" to some but here's my vision (the vision of a madman).

Picture a typical beach scene with the shark head embedded partially in the sand with his head tilted a bit more down than his default pose. More like he's swimming and the head is just coming out of the water. Behind the shark, also in the sand is the dorsel fin and behind that part of the tail fin.

Now add a pretty girl in a bathing suit laying on a lounge chair. She's reading a book looking very relaxed. In the background only a foot or so away the jaws of the shark are almost upon her. His mouth open and ready to strike.

I'd like to take pictures of that scene and come up with a good title. Gives a new meaning to the definition of Sand Shark ... or even Land Shark !

Another idea is to embed the shark in the front lawn. Instead of a "Beware of Dog" sign, you would see "Beware of Shark". However, even I think that's a little out there and I don't want to freak the neighbors out too much. Might do that just long enough to get some pictures.

We'll be away from all computers for about a week. After that I will begin my next "from scratch" robot. One that only a few people have made.

Robot building season

Now that the Florida robot building season is upon us, new projects are slowly starting to form while the older ones are finishing up. Some of these new projects are a little bizarre to say the least. But fun !

The plan of building the second B9 has been officially abandoned so I will be selling the B9 parts in November. They take up a lot of room and money from the sale of the B9 parts will finance other projects.

Recently, I found a John Riggs Robby for sale but there were two people who responded to the ad before me. IF they pass on it, then I'll be able to purchase it. However, hope is fading fast and it's apparent that Robby won't be available to me. However .... a different Robby opportunity has possibly opened up so we'll see where that goes.